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This perhaps may not be the best of times to ponder upon the question of hope. Engulfed by death, disease and desolation, India, and along with it the entire world, is going through a time unparalleled and not witnessed by most of us alive.

Labour’s humiliating byelection defeat in Hartlepool marks the disastrous end to the first year of Keir Starmer’s leadership, which was supposed to begin a new era for Labour. Keir had replaced Jeremy Corbyn with the promise to salvage the situation and give a completely new dynamics to the party but the defeat has put a big question mark on its future prospect.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The nine-day total lockdown, which has come into force from this Saturday, has been welcomed by one and all. It has been put in place as the partial lockdown has failed to prevent a deterioration in the covid situation.

In the midst of a pandemic, the economic scenario is looking dismal. To break the chain of infection, we are isolating ourselves and that is bringing the level of activity to a minimum; demand is hibernating; investment is better not mentioned.

The ferocious rise in COVID-19 infection and its continuing spread from the urban to rural India has put the government and the people under fear of difficult days ahead. People are worried about fall in their income and rise in inflation, while the government has become apprehensive of the growing requirement of food supply to support the needy.

“This government has lost its mind. They talk of being a superpower, but what kind of superpower that can’t even find oxygen for its people?” This quote from a Meerut man who lost his niece to Covid, has been carried by The Economist to show the exasperation felt by the average Indian about the situation prevailing in the country. Just this one quote is enough to puncture all the bravado and chest thumping that Prime Minister do at forums like the Davos and venues around the world on his favourite theme that 21st century belongs to India.

The outcome of the assembly elections is a setback to both national parties and will result in more assertive states. It is also now time for all the new governments to focus on Covid-19. Swear in the new chief ministers immediately, don’t fight over cabinet berths, and work on beating back the second wave.

Passing the 100-day mark of President Joe Biden’s administration, one word we hear often is “bold.” From the passage of the American Rescue Plan (to fight the coronavirus), to important changes proposed in the American Jobs Plan (on infrastructure), and his American Families Plan (expand paid family and medical leave, pre-school education, free community college, etc.), the president envisions important changes in several critical areas of daily life.

While the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) major election victory in Bengal has been welcomed in Bangladesh, there is also an undercurrent of dismay. Judging by social media messaging, Bangladeshis fear that the Teesta River Water sharing project may not be implemented. And criticism on this score about the TMC has not been muted either. The official praise coming from Dhaka about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may be as effusive as before. But public sentiment as a whole towards her and the TMC is more nuanced, even somewhat different.

While the Union home ministry is busy building a strong case for imposition of President’s rule in Bengal and proceed against Mamata government for its failure to check the eruption of large scale post-poll violence in the state, Mamata Banerjee announced no one, even a union minister, coming without an RT-PCR would be allowed to enter the state.